


Tatted Up Dads

by orphan_account



Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: First Day of School, Kid Fic, M/M, parenting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-01
Updated: 2018-10-01
Packaged: 2019-07-21 01:30:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,368
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16149701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Tyler and Josh realize that their daughter might have some questions about her family as she heads off to her first day of preschool.





	Tatted Up Dads

**Author's Note:**

  * For [violetjosh](https://archiveofourown.org/users/violetjosh/gifts).



> My lovely friend Mack wanted some tooth rotting fluffy kid stuff. Here you go, love.

“Daddy!” A small, soft voice calls from the bathroom. The couple share a mutual smile before Tyler sighs.

“I got it this time. Can you just finish packing up her lunch?”

“‘Course,” replies Josh as he reaches into the fridge for a small packet of baby carrots. Tyler ventures into the other room to find their four-year-old daughter on the toilet, swinging her little legs back and forth. She smiles at him.

“We’re out of toilet paper.”

“Well that’s a problem, isn’t it?” Tyler chuckles, crouching down to pull a new roll out from under the sink. “Do you wanna put it on?”

“Yes!” She makes a grabby motion with her tiny palms, prompting Tyler to hand her the roll. The empty one is dropped onto the floor-- which Tyler would usually be on her about, but this is too cute for him to say anything-- and the new one is placed on the holder. His daughter looks up at him for her next instructions.

Tyler and Josh had decided to have a kid after being married for three years. They had dated several years prior to that, but had both been caught up in a bad spell of baby fever and decided they wanted to have a child that had their DNA in their genetic code. One of Tyler’s good friends, Jenna, had offered to carry the child, and nine months later, the partners had a beautiful, baby girl they named Annabelle, or Anna, for short. Tyler had wanted to name her something cool, like Rex or Rover, but ultimately, Annabelle had been the one they agreed on. Tyler couldn’t complain too much because it fit her.

Anna’s entire existence had been in her “terrible twos” phase, but both parents learned to put up with her. Besides, Josh had said optimistically, her loud screams were very similar to a certain somebody.

Tyler had blushed in response. Their music days had been put on hold for the time being while he and Josh raised their daughter. They had discussed going on tour soon, now that she was about to start kindergarten next year, but being away from their daughter for that long seemed incredibly hard. 

They knew it was a possibility, because both of their parents had offered to watch her, but their “baby fever” had never really went away. In fact, they had started talking about having another one soon.

“You know what to do, dork,” Tyler laughs, pointing to the toilet paper. “Wipe.”

“Will you do it for me, Daddy?” She blinks those long eyelashes of hers-- another thing she had gotten from Tyler-- and presses her hands underneath her chin.

“I thought you were a big girl.”

“I am.”

“Then wipe your own butt, sweetheart.”

Anna sighs obnoxiously, but gives in to her father’s demands and ultimately wipes herself. Tyler does, however, help her flush the toilet and wash her hands.

They return to the kitchen hand-in-hand to find Josh leaning against the counter with Anna’s lunchbox in one hand, his phone in the other. He smiles, his eyes crinkling at the corners, as Anna leaves Tyler to run into his arms.

“Hi baby,” Josh coos, pressing a wet kiss to her forehead. “Are you excited for your first day of preschool?”

She nods her head rapidly and reaches out a hand to grab a strand of Josh’s bright yellow hair. It had been many colors over the years and never failed to grab their daughter’s attention. Josh said he’d stop dying his hair when Anna thought he was too embarrassing. (Tyler didn’t believe him.)

“Do you think I’ll make fwiends, Dad?” 

Tyler was Daddy and Josh was Dad. It was something Anna had decided on and it just stuck. “I think you’ll be the most popular girl there.”

She giggles. “What do you think their Daddies are like?”

The two share a look. That’s right. They almost forgot they were going to have to have this talk with Anna.

Tyler looks down at his watch and sighs. “We got ten minutes before we have to leave.”

“Okay,” Josh nods, scooping Anna into his arms. He sets the lunchbox down next to his phone and follows Tyler into the living room, plopping down practically on top of him so they can both cuddle their daughter. Anna giggles again, loving every second of it. She was clingy, just like Josh, and extremely loving.

“So, listen, baby,” Josh starts off, giving Tyler a look, “Daddy and I love you very much.”

“I love you,” she says back, sticking her thumb in her mouth.

“But the thing is... most kids don’t have two Daddies. They only have one.”

“Oh,” Anna mumbles against her thumb.

“And it’s not a bad thing,” Tyler continues, resting a hand on her knee, “All families are different. You’ll get to meet lots of people with different stories and it’ll be really cool. You like cool stuff, don’t you?”

Her mouth makes a popping sound when she slides her thumb out and smiles. “I do, Daddy.”

“You’ll get to play with new toys and new friends and eat new foods. And learn new stuff!”

“And it’s going to be so much fun!” Josh adds, cheering. Anna bursts into another round of giggles when Josh presses a kiss to the top of her head. A smile rises to the corner of Tyler’s lips.

“Can I tell them about my Daddies?” She asks.

“Absolutely,” Tyler tells her, “you can even tell them what your Daddies do.”

Her nose crinkles. “Make loud noises.”

Josh grins. “Yeah, that’s about right.”

Tyler leans over to tickle her, resulting in the three of them sharing a hearty round of laughter. He swoops Anna into his arms and pulls her into a tight hug. Anna squeals loudly and tucks her head underneath Tyler’s chin.

“Don’t move,” Josh demands as he stands up and holds his hands out. “This is a perfect photo opportunity.”

“Dad’s gonna take a picture of his favorite people,” Tyler tells Anna as he squeezes her gently. “Then we can go to school.”

Josh comes running back in with his iPhone, his socked feet sliding across the wooden floorboards. He steadies his hands and yells out, “say cheese!” before snapping a bunch of pictures. Anna snuggles closer into Tyler’s chest and reaches out to touch his banded tattoos.

“Do other Daddies have tootoos?” The way she says tattoos makes Tyler want to never let her go. He chuckles as Josh slips his shoes on and makes his way back into the kitchen to retrieve Anna’s backpack and lunchbox.

“I’m sure they do.”

“Okay,” she responds, satisfied. Tyler sets her down so he too can slip his shoes on. Josh shoots him a look.

“You are not wearing crocs to our daughter’s preschool on her very first day.”

“They’re comfortable!”

“They are so ugly, Tyler.”

“Ugly,” Anna agrees, joining Josh’s side where he takes her hand. Tyler scoffs, but trades his crocs for a worn out pair of floral vans.

“Rude.”

“You need to set a good example for our daughter, love.”

Tyler frowns. “My fashion sense is just as bad as yours.”

“Too far, man.”

“Time for school,” Anna reminds them, tugging on Josh’s hand to pull him towards the garage. Tyler follows, holding her backpack and lunchbox in his arms.

Josh offers to drive, so Tyler buckles Anna into her carseat, plants a kiss to her cheek, and slides into the passenger seat. The two share a look.

“She’s going into school,” Tyler exclaims in disbelief. Josh smiles.

“I think we’ve done okay on this parenting thing. What do you think?”

Tyler doesn’t reply right then and there. Instead, he changes the subject, and Josh understands. Josh knows him like the back of his hand, which is exactly why they married each other. Josh was Tyler’s rock.

And when they stand hand in hand, watching Anna skip into her preschool, Tyler finds tears in his eyes and a frog in his throat. His baby was growing up. And sure, it wasn’t in a traditional environment, but he and Josh were doing pretty dang well.

“I think we’ve done okay too,” he tells Josh.

Josh needs no explanation.


End file.
